When open office systems first came into use several decades ago, one of their primary advantages was the ease with which they could be reconfigured to meet the needs of an office. Today, however, this flexibility has been seriously curtailed by the power and communications channels which are typically routed through the panels.
This problem can be illustrated by reference to FIG. 1, which shows a plan view of a cluster 10 of workstations 11A-11F. Cluster 10 includes a spine 12 from which a series of wing walls, illustrated by wing walls 13A and 13B, extend. The voice, data and power lines for the occupants of workstations 11A-11F typically run through a conduit which is located at the base of the panels which make up spine 12. These lines typically come from a ceiling connection which may be located, for example, at point 14.
The individual panels may vary in width from 1 foot to 5 feet and are either joined together directly, as at point 15, or with 2-way, 3-way or 4-way connectors (illustrated as 16A, 16B and 16C, respectively). A wall cannot be added at right angles to an existing wall without adding one of these connectors. For example, if it is desired to divide workstation 4F into two workstations, by adding a wall at point 15, a 3-way connector would be inserted at point 15.
To accomplish this, all of the communications and power lines which run through spine 12 must be disconnected. This has become a very expensive operation. The power and communications to all workstations 11A-11F must be disabled, and the occupants of these workstations are in effect put "out of business" until the lines are reconnected. Moreover, the occupants of workstations 11C and 11F would have to remove and pack up all work surfaces, shelves, etc., that are attached to spine 12 in order to permit the 3-way connector to be installed. Also, adding a connector increases the length of spine 12 by approximately 2 inches, and therefore reduces the width of an aisle adjacent to cluster 10.
The actual movement of the partition panels represents only a small portion of the total cost of adding a new wing wall. It has been estimated that 85-90% of the total cost goes into adjustments other than the physical addition of the wall.
At the end of each panel is a slotted "cantilever strip" which is used to attach shelves and other components to the partitions. The components are mounted on the cantilever strips by means of standardized mounting brackets having hooks which fit into the slots of the cantilever strip. At the present time, each shelf or other component must have a width which matches the width of the panel on which it is mounted. That is, a 2' wide shelf, for example, can be mounted only on a 2' panel. This seriously limits the flexibility of the office designer in using available components. It also increases the actual cost of the panels to the office owner. Larger panels are significantly less expensive on a linear foot basis; two 2' panels, for example, cost approximately 20% more than a single 4' panel. Thus, to the extent that smaller shelves and cabinets are required, the total cost of the panels increases. (As used herein, the term "component" includes shelves, cabinets, work surfaces, tack and white boards and any other item which may be attached to the side of a partition panel.)
Both of these problems are overcome with the attachment bar of this invention.